Hugo e



H. E. GRIESHABER.

SPRAY SHIELD FOR SUBMARINE BOATS.

APPLICATIONIFILED OCT. 8, m1.

Patented Aug. 26, 1919.

IIINGTON D L UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HUGO E. GRIESHABER, OF GROTON, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO ELECTRIC BOATCOMPANY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

SPRAY-SHIELD FOR SUBMARINE BOATS.

Application filed October 8, 1917.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Huoo E. GRInsHABnn, a citizen of the United States,residing at Groton, in the county of New London, State of Connecticut,have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Spray-Shields forSubmarine Boats; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full,clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains tomake and use thesame.

Thisinvention relates to submarine boats and aims to provide a novelfairwater structure to act as a spray and weather shield for protectingmembers of the crew on an exterior navigating deck.

When a submarine boat as now constructed is cruising on the surface, itshull and superstructure are so completely awash, on account of the lowfreeboard, that the deck hatches are necessarily closed. During surfacecruising, an elevated navigating deck or bridge, usually above theconning tower, is occupied by members of the crew until such time as theboat is just about to submerge; and it is common practice to provide oneor more special hatches, by means of which members of the crew may passdirectly from the navigating station to the interior of the boat. Evenwith this exterior navigating station elevated as eX- plained, it hasbeen found highly desirable, especially in rough weather, to providesome sort of temporary protection forthe members of the crew at thenavigating station, such as the familiar canvas weather cloth. Thiscanvas weather cloth is liable to be carried away in a heavy sea whenthe boat is on the surface; and before submerging the weather cloth mustbe removed and stowed away or it will be lost.

The present invention involves the provision of a spray shieldpreferably made of metal or otherwise of suitably rigid construction,and therefore adapted to be anchored permanently in place, if desired,so that it need not be removed, although it is preferably adjusted orretracted, preparatory to submergence; the spray shield'being shaped towithstand deformation and displacement when the boat is propelledsubmerged; and being of such shape as to afford in itself substantialprotection for the navigating station without additional can-Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 26, 1919.

Serial No. 195,267.

vas Walls, although such additional canvas walls will ordinarily beprovided for use when conditions permit.

The spray-shield is preferably adapted for two adjustments, and is ofcut-water contour avith its wall members synnnetrically arranged onopposite sides of the cen ter line of the boat in both of these adjustments; the shield in one adjustment being extended to protectpractically the entire width of the navigating bridge in the vicinity ofthe conning tower hatch, and in retracted adjustment being folded inalongside the slicers to offer small resistance to submerged propulsion.It will be understood that the term. slicers is herein used to includesheers for protecting some upstanding part of the boat, such as one ormore periscopes or ventilators or both; and accordingly merely the termsheers will be used in the appended claims when defining the inventionas applied to certain well known navigating stations.

The invention will be clearly understood from the following description,when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing, illustrating apreferred embodiment of the invention.

In this drawing, Figure l is a plan view of an amidships portion of asubmarine hoat, showing a navigating station equipped with aspray-shield constructed according to the invention, and Fig; 2 is aside elevation of the parts shown in Fig. 1.

The submarine boat illustratedin the drawing comprises a hull 3, asuperstructure 4, a conning tower 5, sheers 6 for protecting a pluralityof periscopes 7, a navigating deck or bridge 8 arranged above theconning tower and surrounding the base of the sheers, a conning towerhatch 9 and a suitable water-tight hatch-cover 10, the hatch 9 beinglocated just forward of the slicers 6.

The spray-shield comprises a pair of rigid, curved, vertically arrangedduplicate wallmembers 11 hingedly connected at their forward ends to astanchion 12 as indicated at 13.

A pair of stanchion sockets 1 1 are set in the bridge 8 at oppositesides of the sheers 6 and preferably aft of the forward edge of theslicers. Secured to each wall-member 11 are a pair of fastening elementsor pin.- tles 15, having eyes adapted to receive pins passing throughcooperating pintles 15 on a stanchion 16, the lower end of which restsin the stanchion socket 14 to support the aft end of the Wall-member 11in the extended position shown in full lines. Fastening elements orpintles for cooperating with the pintles 15 are secured at oppositesides of the slicers 6 asindicated at 18, and are so positioned thatwhen the wall-members 11 are folded in to retracted position asindicated in broken lines in Fig. 1, the pintles 15 on the wall-membersinterlock with the pintles 18 on the sheers 6- so that two pins may beinserted in the pintle bores to lock the sprayshield in its contractedcondition. An electrical steering control 19, preferably of the wellknown type now in use and other suitable'navigating fittings (not shown)may be mounted on the stanchion 12 or otherwise positioned in rear ofthe spray shield, and so as to be inclosed by the'sprayshield even whenthe Wall members 11 are retracted.

The spray-shield when arranged as shown infull lines, that is, when theafter ends of the wall members 11 are positioned outboard and secured inplace at the side edges of the bridge 8', affords sufli'cient protectionfor a number of men on the bridge, whereas When the spray-shield iscontracted and folded in against the sides of the sheers as indicated inbroken lines in Fig. 1, the conning tower hatch 9 lies within theconfines of the shield and the commanding officer may stand in the spaceforward of the hatch.

It will be observed that the spray-shield is of characteristicprow-shape in both the described adjustments, that is, shaped like thefore part of a ships hull, and is at all times of high cut-waterefficiency. The

shield constitutes a protecting shell open at top and rear when inextended condition; and when folded in against the sides o-f the sheers6, the shield'constitutes a self-filling and self-bailing fair-waterstructure or auxiliary sheers, the side walls of which merge smoothlyinto the contour of the sheers 6. Should the boat submerge with thespray shield secured in place on the bridge 8, with the wall members 11retracted, the spray shield will offer negligible resistance tosubmerged propulsion, and whether extended or retracted will withstanddeformation or displacement and upon emergence of the boat, will bedrained free of waterbefore the conning tower hatch is opened.

Thisspray shield may be supplemented by the usual canvas walls extendingaftalong the outer edges of the navigating bridge, or by rigid sidewalls substituted for the canvas walls, as disclosed in the companionapplication, Serial No. 195,268, filed of even date herewith, but evenwith out such additional walls, it serves as a sub exterior navigatingstation, a plurality of upstanding sections permanently disposed insubstantiallyvertical position with respect to" the deck of saidstation, one end of each of said sections being pivotally secured to theboat while the other endsof said sections are relatively movable with.respect to each other, and means for anchoring said sections in arelatively extended position to form a spray shield for said station.during surface propulsion and in a relatively retracted position foroffering small resistance to submerged propulsion; sub stantially asdescribed.

3. In a submarine boat, in combination, an exterior navigating station,and a sprayshield of cut-water contour mountedon the boat andcomprisinga-plurality of relatively movable sections arranged to protect membersof the crew on the navigating station when the boat is on the surface,the sections being adjustable to-change the contour of the shield toincrease the cut-water efliciency thereof for submerged propulsion,substantially as described.

4:. In a submarine boat having an exterior navigating deck, aspray-shieldof prowshape adapted to be secured permanently to the deckand comprising a plurality of sections which are relatively movable tovary the maximum beam'ofthe spray-shield while maintaining thecharacteristic prow-shape thereof, substantially as described.

1 5. In a submarine boat, in combination, an exterior navigatingstation, a pair of rigid sections, one end of each of said sectionsbeing pivoted about a substantially vertical axis and the other endsofsaid sections being movable'away from and toward each other, and meansforsecuring the movable endsof said sections inan extended position soasto form a spray shield for said station and in a retracted positionoffering relatively small resistance to submergedpropulsion;substantially as described.

6. In a submarine boat, the combination with an elevated exteriornavigating station. upstanding sheers thereon and a hatch, forpermitting members of the crew to pass directly from the station to, theinteiior-of the boat, of a plurality of substantially verticallyarranged rigid wall-members permanently connected to the boat at theirforward ends forward of the hatch, the wallmembers being adapted to beswung out away from the center line of the boat to protect members ofthe crew on the navigating station from flying spray, and also beingadapted to be swung in toward the sheers toform a fair-water shell ofsmall resistance to submerged propulsion, and means for securing thewall-members in both adjustments, substantially as described.

7. In a submarine boat having an exterior navigating bridge, anadjustable sprayshield comprising a substantially vertically upstandingmember fixed in place on the bridge and a pair of substantiallyvertically arranged wall-members hingedly connected to the firstmentioned member and adjustable to vary the maximum Width of the shield,and means for securing the rear portions of the wall-members in place,substantially as described.

8. In a, submarine boat, the combination with sheers, a navigatingstation forward of the sheers and a hatch for permitting members of thecrew to pass directly from the station to the interior of the boat, of asprayshield arranged forward of the hatch and comprisin a plurality ofrelatively movable wall-memers of rigid construction, the wall-membersbeing relatively adjustable to an extended position to form a shield forprotecting substantially the entire width of the station and to aretracted position with the rear portions of the wall-members againstthe sides of the sheers to form a relatively narrow shield adequate toprotect a single member of the crew, substantially as described.

9. In a submarine boat having an exteri'or navigating station, a hatchwhereby access may be had directly from the station to the interior ofthe boat, and sheers a [t of the hatch; a shield comprising a pair ofwallmembers of rigid construction hinged! y connected to the boat attheir forward ends so that the rear ends of the wall-members may beswung out to form a wide shield or swung in to form a relatively narrowshield, the Wall-members being duplicates and being curved so that whenswung in they incloso the hatch and the forward portion of the sheerssymmetrically on both sides of the center line of the boat,substantially as described.

10. In a submarine boat having an exterior navigating station and sheersupstanding in rear of the station; a fair-water sprayshield arrangedforward 01 the sheers and comprisin a plurality of pivotally mountedwall-members formed and arranged so that they may be moved to expandoncontract the spray-shield on both sides of the forward portion of thesheers, substantially as described.

11. In a submarine boat, the combination of an exterior navigating deck,a hatch therein, fixed sheers aft of the hatch, and open toppedadjustable sheers arranged forward of the hatch for protecting thehatch, the adjustable sheers being self-filling and self-bailing in alladjustments, and means for securing the adjustable sheers in positionwhen adjusted, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I atlix my signature.

HUGO E. GRIESHABER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D. G.

